Valentine's Blizzard Murder Read online

  I grabbed the dark red, metal flashlight and flicked it on, even though the stairs were already lit up by the overhead light. The stairs were older and no matter how many times I'd used them, I always took them carefully. As I went down, the air around me turned frigid. Even though the furnace is downstairs, all of the heat was sucked upstairs which left the basement freezing cold.

  Once I was at the bottom, I pointed my flashlight towards the next light bulb. First, I flashed the light around the room and just took in the surroundings before I dashed to the light bulb and yanked on the little metal chain that dangled above my head. It sprung to life and lit up the first room. I felt a bit foolish, but no one else was down here to watch me dash from light to light.

  Thankfully, the folding chairs were here in the first room and I wouldn't have to deal with the other rooms. The only problem was that I wouldn't be able to carry the chairs and the flashlight back up the stairs. Oh well, I would just have to come back down to shut off the light bulb and get the flashlight. I hefted two folding chairs up into each arm and headed back towards the stairs.

  As I climbed carefully back up to the main level, the cold of the metal chairs was seeping through the sleeves of my shirt. I hoped they would be able to warm up a bit before everyone sits down to dinner otherwise four people were going to have very cold bottoms.

  Once I was back up into the kitchen, I was surprised to see that my father was gone, but a different guest was loitering around the bowls of pad thai that my father had started ladling out.

  "Excuse me sir," I said as politely as possible. "But guests aren't allowed in the kitchen."

  The man spun to face me, obviously completely unaware that I had made my appearance from some mysterious door at the back of the kitchen. It was Lyle Roberts, who was here for the Valentine's Day weekend with his wife Claudia. He was the sort of man who had probably always been handsome and he had managed to make his aging look graceful. His jet black hair had just a few flecks of gray that made him look distinguished.

  "Oh, hello there," Lyle said. He quickly masked his surprise by leaning casually on the counter next to the bowls of pad thai. "I just came in to check and see if dinner was almost ready, but there was no one here."

  "So you just decided to hang out with the food?" I said.

  Before either of us could speak again, the swinging door to the kitchen opened up and my father came back in, followed closely by Anna Crawford, who was somehow managing to walk while scrolling on her phone. My dad stopped and his eyebrows knit together in surprise.

  "Oh hello, Lyle, Tessa," he said with a nod of his head. "I just stepped out to find someone to help me set the table and I found Anna in the living room. Things are a bit different today since we are all stuck here because of the blizzard."

  As my dad said the last part, he gave me a little tip of the head which probably was meant to tell me to calm myself and relax the rules a little bit. I shrugged at him and continued to schlep the chairs through the kitchen towards the dining room.

  "Come on Lyle and Anna," my father said. "Each of you grab two bowls and lets get them on the table. Everything else is set and there are name tags at each spot."

  My father followed me through the door with a few bowls of food with Anna close behind and Lyle a little further back. The dining room was already somewhat full with Mandy, my mother, and a few of the other guests drifting in to have dinner. My father and Anna plopped the bowls down on the table while Lyle appeared to be reading the name tags before remembering that he was supposed to be delivering food.

  After a few more trips to bring bowls back and forth, the table was set and dinner was served.

  "Everyone find your spot," my father said. "Time for dinner."

  Chapter Three

  For a while, the only sounds were the clinking of silverware and a muttered compliment to the chef here and there. I wasn't sure if everything felt strange just because here we were in a bed and breakfast having dinner together, but there was some sort of tension floating through the air.

  I looked around the table at the guests, realizing what a ragtag bunch we were. The bed and breakfast usually hosted a gaggle of older couples in town to visit grandchildren. Every once in a while a local young couple would take a honeymoon night here. But this week was very different.

  Jake Crawford and his wife Anna were here. I had to admit that Jake was handsome and I could definitely understand why he had landed work as an actor. Anna was a California girl through and through, with long, waist length blond hair. Jake was currently frowning at his pad thai, taking a drink of his wine instead. I tried not to stare at him, but you know how sometimes there is someone who is just so pretty that you can't look away? That's Jake.

  I shoved another bite of pad thai in my mouth and looked back just in time to see Jake pat his wife's hand before scowling at Lyle, who was sitting across from him. I assumed Lyle may have kicked him by accident. The one thing about this table is that it is somewhat narrow, so kicking your across-the-table neighbor happens too often.

  Lyle and his wife Claudia were across the table. Where Lyle was strikingly handsome for a middle aged man, Claudia was very plain. She was the sort of person who was completely forgettable. Her clothes tonight looked just like what she had worn everyday since they arrived here. She was wearing a gray v-neck t-shirt and a pair of jeans with a simple cardigan sweater. If Claudia had jazzed it up with a necklace or a scarf, she could have looked very fashionable. But instead, she sort of faded into the background.

  Like I should be one to talk, I am definitely not a fashion plate. I looked down at myself, realizing I was only slightly dressed up because Clark was over. I had a pair of skinny jeans on and I had pulled on a white, long sleeved tee and a maroon colored cocoon sweater. To jazz it up a little, I had a long black pendant necklace and a few sparkly bobby pins holding back a few pieces of hair. Mandy was the one I should really thank for helping me out with my fashion. When I was living in the big city, working my desk job, I depended on an online wardrobe subscription box to dress me. Now that I was back in Shady Lake, Mandy was the one who would help me put outfits together.

  Right now, Mandy was sitting next to me and my mother at the end of the table. We were each squished onto the corners of the table while my mother was in the middle. I tried to give the guests their space while squishing the people who lived here or were stuck here at the ends. That meant at the head of the table, Clark and Tank were squashed onto the corners while my father kept his head of the table spot.

  There were two other older couples who were here to celebrate, Linda and her husband Dave and Cheryl and her husband Joe. The two couples were best friends and actually lived in Shady Lake, but Linda and Cheryl had decided that staying at the Shady Lake Bed and Breakfast would be a special way to celebrate Valentine's Day and their husbands had grudgingly come along.

  The two guests who were somewhat out of place were Candy and Dawn. We didn't get a lot of single guests here as bed and breakfasts tended to draw out more couples than anything else, but every once in a while we would have one. The strange thing was that we had two this week, although Candy was only here as a journalist to follow Jake's visit back to town.

  As I looked down the table, Candy sneered at me from above her bowl. Candy and I had been in school together and for some unknown reason, she hated me. I can't say that I enjoy her company either as every time I'm around her, all she does is glare at me and snip at me. Of course, I wish I could say I was the bigger person who rose above it, but I typically lowered myself down to her level and threw insults right back.

  Candy worked for the local newspaper and she was usually stuck writing obituaries and little pieces like who bowled 300 that week or who won the big prize at bingo. Every once in a while, though, she was given a chance at a big story and I wondered how much she had to beg to get this assignment. No matter what, she was dedicated to writing a good story because she had paid for her room herself. I know because I sneaked a peek at
the register.

  The other woman who was here by herself was Dawn. She had light brown hair that was braided in a french braid down the middle of her head. Dawn's style seemed to be very casual. She was currently wearing a pair of dark purple joggers and thin, black hoodie shirt. She looked like she was about to pop out to a workout class. I didn't know much about her because she had kept to herself. As I took another bite of dinner, I watched Dawn as she tried to sneakily stare at Jake. I couldn't blame her, of course, as I had been doing the same thing earlier. I took a glance at her hand and noticed that she wasn't wearing a wedding ring. So I guess I knew one thing about her.

  "Well then, maybe we should all go around and say something about ourselves like a fun fact since we are all stuck here for a while," Linda said with a clap of her hands.

  Cheryl nodded enthusiastically along with her friend as both of their husbands rolled their eyes knowingly at each other. I got the sense that this was a running theme in their relationship and honestly, it just made me want to be their friend also.

  "I'll go first," Linda said. "My name is Linda and I have an odd hobby of making lamps. Like sometimes I will revamp lamps I find at second hand shops and sometimes I make weird things into lamps, like a log shaped like a shark that I bought from a guy at the fair who carves them with a chainsaw."

  Linda picked up her wine glass and triumphantly took a drink before motioning towards her husband Dave, who was sitting quietly together.

  "My name is Dave," he said, obviously used to going along with his wife's schemes. "And my house is full of lamps."

  I just about spit out the sip of wine I had just taken and as the table burst into laughter, Linda playfully smacked him on the arm. Dave's friend Joe was guffawing so much that he went into a coughing fit, which seemed to just make everyone laugh even more.

  "Okay Jake, you are next," Linda said, leaning across Dave to put her hand on Jake's arm.

  Jake was staring at his bowl with his eyebrows furrowed. He was slowly chewing a bite of his pad thai. Looking at his bowl, he had only had a few bites of the very full bowl. He swallowed what was in his mouth and turned towards my father, ignoring Linda's gentle prodding to take his turn at the game.

  "Mr. Schmidt, is there fish sauce in this?" he asked.

  "No, of course not," my dad said, his face going pale. "Why, what's wrong?"

  "I'm just feeling a little funny," Jake said. "I think I'm going to go to my room."

  He pushed his chair back and stood up, but suddenly clutched at his throat and sank down to the floor. Jake's eyes bulged out and his face started to turn red. Everyone turned to look as it slowly dawned on the room that something was terribly wrong.

  Chapter Four

  I have a theory that there are two kinds of people: those that are good in an emergency and those that aren't. This was one of those times where the world sorted themselves neatly out into those two categories. While Dave, Clark, Mandy, Dawn, Tank, and I all rushed over to help, everyone else just sat in their chairs, staring and processing what was happening.

  "Jake, are you okay?" Anna cried, shoving her chair back as she realized that something was wrong. "I think he's having an allergic reaction. He's got a severe fish allergy."

  "Does he have one of those needle things with medicine?" Dave asked. For someone who had just made the room laugh, he had transformed into problem solver quickly enough. I could see his mind racing as he tried to make a plan of attack. I don't think he had been a doctor, but he must have been someone who needed to take charge in situations.

  Anna turned slowly, as if she were in a dream. She looked at him for a moment before nodding and dashing out of the room. Anna ran almost as if she were running tentatively through a fog. She almost ran into the door frame as she left the dining room. Clark started after her, pausing for a minute at the foot of the table.

  "Don't worry Tessa, I'll help her out," Clark said before he ran out of the room after her, much more sure-footed than Anna.

  I bent down next to Jake, not sure what to do to help him. I didn't know much about food allergies or if there was anything I could do to help. Jake stared helplessly up at me as his face started to swell up. I felt someone kneel next to me and looking over, I saw Claudia taking one of his hands. There were tears in her eyes as she squeezed his hand.

  "But there isn't any fish in the pad thai," my dad cried. He was still sitting at the head of the table, his fork halfway to his mouth. His face was screwed up in confusion and after a moment, he realized he should probably do something. He stood up and after a look around the room, he started to clear the dishes. I was about to stop him, but I figured that if he had some sort of task, it was better than nothing.

  "Is there any other allergy medicine we could try?" Mandy asked. Her face was solemn and serious. She was on autopilot emergency response right now.

  I wasn't sure that would do anything as Jake's breathing was labored and I could tell from the sound that his throat was swelling shut. That meant that the chance of any medicine going down was slim to none, but we had to do something. Where was Anna with the lifesaving medicine? She obviously realized that this was an emergency situation, so why was it taking her so long?

  "There is some allergy medicine in the kitchen cabinet," my mother said, lazily pointing towards the kitchen. She looked like she was in some sort of dream.

  Mandy and Tank looked at each other and raced through the swinging door into the kitchen where I could hear them slamming cabinet doors open and shut as they searched in vain.

  As my father came to grab more dishes, I grabbed his pants leg and jerked on it a few times until he finally realized what I was doing and looked down at me.

  "Do not clear Jake's plate," I said quietly, hoping no one else could hear me. The only other person who was close to me was Dawn. "We need to check it to see if there is anything different about it."

  My dad blinked at me a few times before moving on. He was drifting around in a daze, collecting dishes. I sometimes wondered how he and my mother got through all of our childhood accidents if neither of them did well in an accident. I suppose that is why I was the one that often took charge. Someone had to.

  Jake slumped down more and Dawn laid his head in her lap as I raced through the first aid training I did back in high school, but nothing was coming to mind. The only thing I knew about an allergic reaction was to use one of those medicine pens to stop anaphylaxis. But where was the medicine? If Jake had this bad of an allergy, he should have it somewhere easily accessible. Why was it taking Anna and Clark so long to find it?

  Mandy came bursting out of the kitchen with Tank hot on her heels. She was waving a bottle of liquid allergy medicine and a measuring spoon. She practically threw the spoon at me as she twisted the childproof cap off with no trouble at all.

  I held the spoon as she carefully poured it out, filling the spoon with the sickly, pink liquid. We weren't really trying to measure. At this point, what would a little extra allergy medicine do to Jake? Once it was full, I held it up to Jake's lips and tried to tip it in. His eyes were wildly dashing around the room as the liquid spilled out of his mouth and all over his shirt instead of going down his throat.

  "It's no use," I said. "His throat is swollen so much that the medicine won't go down. I think we should keep trying though."

  Dawn started to cry as Mandy poured another spoonful of medicine for me. I tried to force it into Jake's mouth but once again the medicine came spilling out, making a large, sticky spot on the collar of Jake's shirt.

  Jake's beautiful blue eyes were now rolling into the back of his head. I grabbed his wrist and felt all over for his pulse, finally feeling a very faint heartbeat. Jake's pulse was rapidly slowing down and his breathing was becoming even more labored.

  I could tell I was losing him and I wasn't sure what to do about it. I realized suddenly that we hadn't even called the emergency number, although I wasn't sure they would be able to get to us anyway because of the weather.

&n
bsp; "Tank, I need you to call for an ambulance," I said. We locked eyes, both knowing that even if the ambulance could make it through the storm, they might not make it in time. He pushed through the swinging door into the kitchen, but a moment later he stepped back out with the corded phone in his hand.

  "The phone lines must be down," Tank said. "There isn't a dial tone."

  "Use my phone," I said, grabbing it out and tossing it to him. I wasn't too concerned about my phone because instead of the smartphone that everyone and their brother seemed to have, I had a flip phone. If Tank missed catching it, it would probably just bounce.

  Tank dialed and held the phone up to his ear. His eyebrows furrowed together as he looked at it again and punched more buttons. After watching him do it a few times, I realized that we would have to throw in the towel on calling for backup.

  "That isn't working either, is it?" I said. Tank shook his head. "The storm must really be wreaking havoc. Knock on wood, but I'm surprised we still have electricity then."

  I leaned over and knocked on the wooden table, not wanting to jinx us. Mandy silently stood up and walked out of the door into the entryway. As she pushed back first through the doors, she locked eyes with me, sending me a message that she would get the medicine situation sorted out.

  The rest of the room was still quiet. I looked around at everyone else who was still in the dining room. My mother had joined in clearing the table with my father, obviously sticking with decorating the Titanic while it's going down. Linda had made her way around the table and she was clutching Cheryl's hand as they watched. Lyle was hugging Claudia into his chest as she quietly cried. Candy was still in her chair, her mouth gaping like a fish. She had her camera sitting on the table, as if she were trying to decide whether to take a picture. But I knew that even Candy was not stupid enough to do that.